The present invention relates generally to an improved method and apparatus for the handling of individual containers, such as pails, including removing the lowermost container from a nested stack, and transferring the removed container to a filling station, and thereafter filling and capping such container or a series thereof with useful commodities, such as edible commodities, including ice cream and the like, and also for pulverulent solid commodities such as soap, detergents, and the like. The apparatus of the present invention is specifically designed to efficiently and reliably manipulate individual containers, such as pails, by moving an individual container from a nested stack onto a filling station, and thence ultimately to a lidding a capping station, with the apparatus being specifically designed for high speed reliable operation.
In the packaging of certain commodities, such as, for example, ice cream or the like, carrying containers or pails are provided for the convenient packaging of the product, as well as for convenient carrying or handling of the product by the consumer. Containers of this type are normally fabricated from synthetic resins such as polyethylene, or from composition board, or the like. These empty containers typically are frusto-conical, shaped in the form of truncated cones, or may alternatively be shaped so as to have a generally rectangular cross-section tapering toward the base. Such containers are normally nested so as to conserve storage volume and shipping volume for the empty containers.
Traditionally, these containers have a base, an upper rim, and an outwardly projecting stacking shoulder which is formed along the periphery of the container body and at a location spaced from the upper rim. A generally "U"-shaped carrying bail is secured to opposed side walls of the container at opposed midway points and between the stacking shoulder and the upper rim. When free-hanging, the carrying bail will normally rest against the outer periphery of the body at a downwardly extending or declining angle. When in stacked or nested disposition, these carrying bails frequently interfere with the vertical separation of the bottom or lowermost container of the stack, the carrying bail of the penultimate or higher ordered container in the stack frequently becoming entangled with the upper rim of the lowermost container in the stack. The apparatus of the present invention provides means for controllably positioning the carrying bail of the penultimate and higher ordered containers in a stacked column of containers so as to permit controlled and orderly vertical separation of the lowermost container of the stack. Apparatus for handling such containers are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,082,203 and 4,157,767, the substance of each being incorporated by reference herein.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,082,203, there is described a machine for sequentially depositing frusto-conical containers from a stack onto a receiving surface which includes apparatus for ensuring that the bail of the penultimate container in the stack will not interfere with the separation of the lowermost container from the stack. The machine of the aforereferenced patent is particularly suited to the handling of containers having a generally circular cross-section.
In the past, apparatus has been designed for the handling of superimposed stacked receptacles, and for the loading and capping thereof, however such devices have frequently been cumbersome, slow, or unreliable in operation. In accordance with the present invention, however, means are provided for efficiently removing or selecting individual containers from the nested stack, and for delivering such containers individually, one at a time, to a filling station. In the filling station, means are provided for elevating the container to the level desired for initiating fill, and thereafter, optionally, slowly dropping the container while the filling proceeds. All during the filling operation, the container is rotated about its central axis so as to achieve a level fill but may be also used for achieving special designs by adding a flavor in the form of a special round ribbon as "Revel" ice cream. Means are provided for protecting the disposition of the receptacle by a flanged lip which is intermittently present.
Upon completion of the filling operation, the filled container is dropped to a desired level, whereupon the flanged lip is displaced or removed, and the incoming unfilled container then jogs the filled container onto an additional conveying system where the presence of the incoming container is detected, and thereafter a lid is applied and sealed onto the filled container.